Cloud computing- an emerging business technology

As popularly believed, the term ‘cloud’ has its origins in network diagrams used to convey the web. So when applications and services moved to the internet, cloud computing was born. Cloud computing was always around, longer than what is popularly known or traced. But in its more recent terms, cloud computing solutions refer to varied services delivered via the internet cloud.

Today many companies provide cloud based services. Some notable names are Google (Gmail), Salesforce and Microsoft (Sharepoint). It is characterised by:

• Shared Infrastructure: sharing of physical resources, networking and storage capabilities. Hence, cloud computing solutions try to leverage the maximum benefits out of the infrastructure by making it available across users.
• Dynamic Provisioning: automatically allocate services as per current needs by employing software automation and altering service capabilities as required. This scaling to needs mandates high degrees of reliability and scaling.
• Network Access: requires access across the web from a range of devices by using standards-based APIs (for example, ones based on HTTP). Cloud computing solutions include all applications, be it business to latest applications for the newest smart phones.
• Managed Metering: Uses metering to provide reporting and billing information. This pay-as-you-go model of engagement for consumers ensures that they are billed only for the services used in a given billing period.

There are various service models that can be opted from a cloud solutions provider:

• Software as a Service (SaaS): Consumers get to use an application/ service hosted in the cloud. Eg. Salesforce.com
• Platform as a Service (PaaS): Here consumers purchase access to the platform. This allows them deploy their own software and applications in the cloud. OS and network access are not managed by the consumer, and hence there could be potential constraints as to which applications can be deployed.
• Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS): Consumer controls the setup for its operating systems, applications, storage, and network connectivity, but as such do not control the cloud infrastructure.

Benefits of going the cloud computing way include cost savings, scalability, flexibility, reliability and mobile access. Generally cloud computing solution providers handle the system maintenance as well. This being the benefits that have been re-iterated across forums, there are challenges as well in this kind of arrangement:

• Security and Privacy: Data storage and security are the focus areas here, problems with which could lead to slow down of the deployment of cloud services.
• Lack of Standards: Clouds have documented interfaces; but there are no standards associated with them, making it unlikely to be interoperable.
• Continuously Evolving: Customer requirements change continuously and so do for interfaces, networking, and storage. Thus a "cloud," (especially a public one) is also continuously evolving.

All these challenges add to the complexities of choosing the right cloud computing solutions. In today’s scenario the market is buzzing with cloud solution providers. That being the case, taking the decision to firstly opt for cloud computing and secondly the correct provider and solution can be a daunting task for most organisations.

Edward k. gordon is the author of this article. he is expert in article writing and loves to write on cloud computing solutions.